The present invention relates to thrust reverser assemblies for bypass jet engines of the pivoting door type.
Reversers of this type are already known, in which the doors are articulated about pivots in a fixed structure of an outer cowling surrounding the engine, more or less concentric with the longitudinal axis of the said engine, this outer cowling creating, along with the nozzle through which a flow of hot primary gases are ejected, an annular duct for a flow of cold bypass gases to flow through, originating from an upstream fan. In this type of installation, the pivoting doors are able to move, under the action of an actuation system, between a stowed position in which they close off openings made in the fixed structure of the cowling and a deployed position in which the said doors project radially outwards and close off the annular duct in order to deflect the flow of bypass gases.
Thus, for example, FR-A-2,622,928 filed on Nov. 5, 1987 describes a reverser system with doors in which the doors, in the stowed position, constitute the downstream end of the outer wall of the annular duct, the said doors being articulated on cantilevered longitudinal beams. This type of rear door reverser exhibits the advantage of allowing the doors to pivot without obstruction when they are actuated and, when the doors are in the deployed position, resulting in a maximum uncovering of the opening or reversal pit through which the bypass gases are deflected. This is due to the fact that the door pivots can be placed very close to the plane passing through the axis of the engine.
However, the consequence of this arrangement is that the downstream ends of the beams on which the doors are articulated are not held rigidly because they are cantilevered and this, owing to the substantial forces exerted in this area when the doors are deployed, has the risk of leading to severe malfunctioning, or even damage of the structures. Moreover, it is obvious that such a solution would not be suitable in cases where the rearward pivoting of the doors might be limited by the mechanical features of the engine. These drawbacks become particularly critical in cases where it is desired to make use of a reverser having two doors only.
A thrust reverser whose doors, each constituted by a half shell, pivot about an axis inclined relative to the vertical, due to two hinges located respectively at the upper end and at the lower end of each half shell, is also known from EP-A-0 048 669.